Swede's AeroLid build thread

[swede]

Originally Posted by ShadeTreeMech

Do you hear less wind turbulance at speed?

Seems to be quieter than it was, yes.

[swede]

I just took a few more pictures to better show the side profile of the cap while mounted on the truck for those who are interested.

Here is a side profile



And detail of the rear

[swede]

Question:

What do you do when you have some leftover coroplast, some spare time, and a gaping air hole in the front of you're truck?

You make a grille block of course

Here's the grille



A few minutes of cutting later.....




And the finished product...





I'm pretty sure that the lower opening will be more than sufficient to provide airflow unless I tow something. If needs be I cut a few zipties and I have full airflow back immediately.

[ShadeTreeMech]

if you'd have used black zip ties it would have been perfect

and if you hear less wind turbulance, then there is less wind turbulance, and that's bound to be a good thing.

[swede]

Results.....

Well, I had the first decent weather to test the effectiveness of the AeroLid and grill block. No major head or cross-winds and no tailwind to give false high numbers.

Speed was kept around 100-105km/h and highest average about midway through the trip peaked @ 23.1mpg US. Overall average was 22.4 mpg US.

Thats an average increase of 12% over my usual FE numbers.

On a side note, the 24mpg in my sig was calculated in IMP mpg.

[Jethro]

Gotta love trucks, getting a 12% increase isn't hard.

[ChazInMT]

Hey Swede, Sorry I been out of it for a while. Your cap looks great, good job on it. I had about the same result (12% gain give er take) with my 2000 GMC. I'd vote for side hinge too, you would have to remake something on your current lid if you try to front hinge it.

Again Good Job....Welcome to the club.

[ccrider]

you should do a ABA test. there are allot of variables from day to day. the only true test is a ABA test. i thought i was getting around the same increase until i did a ABA test.

[swede]

My truck has an onboard fuel efficiency computer and it shows total gallons of fuel used/avg FE/ ODO/ etc. Based on that I am getting a lifetime city/hwy average of just over 16mpg. I am hoping to see this number start to move up as better weather and new mods impact my overall FE.

I want to do some ABAB tests one of these days but that will have to be on a hwy trip on the same day for true accuracy, correct????

[COcyclist]

If you have instantaneous fuel economy readings on your onboard computer, it is possible to do it on a flat stretch of road. Warm up the truck, drive between 2 landmarks using cruise control at a constant speed. Leave the truck running and cruise "on" between runs. Disengage cruise by tapping the brake. It is best to do both directions in light traffic and no wind if possible. Remove Kamm, repeat. Replace Kamm, repeat. It takes some time to get accurate results and higher speeds will show bigger differences in Aero mods.